1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wrist watches and, more particularly, to the introduction of ergonomic elements in watch cases, time displays and setting crowns which provide advantages in the viewing of time and the operation of watches containing such elements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional digital wrist watches generally display time by a horizontal array of hours, minutes and seconds reading the watch face from left to right in that order. This array is normally disposed perpendicularly to the vertical bisector of the watch face.
Other time displays characterized as quadribalanced, balanced, enhanced quadribalanced, and unidirectional segmented are disclosed in several patents, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,497, U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,737, U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,736 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,584,041, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. In these displays, during the first half of each hour, the existing hour is flanked on its right side by increasing elapsed minutes in a single or dual quarterly up/down position. After completion of the first half hour, the display transitions by increasing the hour by one to the forthcoming next hour, and minutes switch to the left side of that hour in a single or quarterly dual down/up position to count down the remaining minutes before the next hour commences. These displays also are located such that their horizontal and vertical bisectors are substantially perpendicular to each other.
3. Recognition of Drawbacks in the Prior Art
The geometries inherent in the above-discussed watch displays are less than ergonomically optimal, due to the difference in angles between the horizontal axis of the time displays and the viewer's arm position and line of sight when reading the time. For example, when a viewer, standing with a watch on the left wrist, raises his or her arm to read the time, the angle of the horizontal axis or bisector of the watch face may be approximately 60° to 70° displaced from parallel to the viewer's face and line of sight across the eyes. In order to align the horizontal bisector of the watch parallel to the line of sight, considerable rotation of the viewer's shoulder and elbow is required to decrease the 60° to 70° angle difference between these two linear projections.
Also, prior art watches that are operated with a setting crown normally position the crown on the right side of the watch case for right handed users. The knob of the setting crown requires sufficient axial thickness to enable the viewer's fingers to rotate the knob in forward or reverse directions without resistance or obstruction from the side of the watch case.